The Yankees magic number was down to one, but they never really had a chance to clinch last night thanks to an absolutely terrible performance from starter A.J. Burnett who couldn’t even last three innings as he gave up seven runs over 2.1 innings in a 7-5 loss in Toronto.

Here are some highlights:

Burnett’s line: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 HR.

He is the first Yankees pitcher since 1992 to post 15 loses in a season.

The offense struggled against Mark Rzepczynski, who struck out 9 batters in 5 innings. He did give up a 2-run homer to Curtis Granderson.

Mark Teixeira made it interesting in the 7th when his 3-run homer made it 7-5, but the Yankees didn’t score again.

After the game manager Joe Girardi refused to talk about the playoffs and Burnett’s potential involvement in them.

Coming into last night’s game Burnett was 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in his last four starts. Nothing spectacular by any stretch, but enough to build on. If he had a good start last night and had a big moment helping the Yankees clinch a playoff spot, you might actually have felt good about him pitching in the playoffs. At this point it’s certainly hard to imagine him as anything but the fourth starter at best in the playoffs behind CC, Andy, and Hughes. If the other options weren’t equally as bad, Burnett would be even lower.

About Rob Abruzzese

Rob Abruzzese created Bronx Baseball Daily in 2008 just before graduating from Brooklyn College. He currently serves BBD as its editor and works as a reporter at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Follow Rob on Twitter @RobAbruzzese.